


How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful

by Arisprite



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Blood, Canon Compliant, F/M, Gen, I'm all about friendship and family tho guys, M/M, Shiro/Allura - Freeform, Some relationships that might show up at some point are, Space Dad Shiro (Voltron), Tags to be added, Voltron Family, Yeah that's it, lance/keith - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-10-27
Updated: 2016-10-28
Packaged: 2018-08-27 07:43:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,408
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8393038
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arisprite/pseuds/Arisprite
Summary: Thrilled: In Which Shiro is a dad with very effective discipline.Locked: Lance and Keith race against the clock to save something very precious to themVarnish: In which Keith is transparent, and Shiro really wishes he didn't have to see the resignation in his eyes.  Collected ficlets about the Paladins of Voltron, and their adventures. Because I finally caved, and I need to warm up before Nanowrimo.





	1. Thrilled

**Author's Note:**

> I've been dipping my toes off and on into Voltron fandom, reading the lovely fics, and enjoying the characters. But, I'm finally itching to actually write it, and so I've been dabbling a bit. I hope you enjoy!
> 
> The prompts come from [this](http://100-prompts.livejournal.com/692.html) prompt table.

Waiting on the deck of the control room was killer. Hunk knew that Shiro thought it would be another facet of their training, to have them feel at-the-ready, like the long guard shifts at the Garrison, designed solely to see who could last the longest without falling asleep. And it was definitely at least 75% punishment, as a couple of them (who shall remain unnamed) had ruined training earlier with their pranks on another certain member of the team. Privately, Hunk thought that getting Pidge to program the gladiator-bot to imitate every one of Keith’s movements was hilarious; Lance had the best ideas, but Shiro had been unimpressed when Keith had gotten so frustrated that he fried the things circuitry with Pidge’s bayard. The look on Allura’s face, upon coming into that room was not one he’d likely forget.

 

So, they were in time out, even though Hunk hadn’t done anything. He was spending the time contemplating a couple of equations he’d been having issues with, relating to the physics of some of the flying apparatus of the lions. God, trying to understand Altean tech in the context of Earth engineering was hard, but Hunk thought he was close to figuring it out. Still, the silence was deafening. There were little beeps and shifts as Allura and Coran did what they usually did, while the paladins were suited up and seated in their chairs. But, Shiro was staring into space, Pidge was definitely fiddling with a device behind her hip, and Hunk thought Keith had dozed off. Lance, poor buddy, was about to burst. 

 

“Argh, Shiro, can I go?” he finally broke. Keith snorted as he was started awake. Yup, he’d been sleeping then, and the rest of the five shifted as the sound seemed to unfreeze them. 

 

“Yeah, I have like five projects I left half done,” Pidge said. 

 

“I still don’t understand why _I_ have to be here too when the prank was on me…” Keith grumbled. 

 

“Maybe it’s cause you totally broke the robot?” Lance said. 

 

“And stole my bayard to do it.” Pidge leaned over to state, not one to be left out. 

 

“I have to go to the bathroom,” Hunk interjected, taking the opportunity to mention something that had been pressing on his mind - and bladder. 

 

“You can all go when I say the time is up,” Shiro said, sounding like Hunk’s mom. 

 

“Well, do we have to stay quiet, or can we talk to each other?” Lance asked, and Shiro sighed. It really looked like the quiet and boredom were getting to him too. Still, he looked to Allura, who gestured in a move like ‘they’re your kids, you decide’. 

 

Shiro waved his metal arm. “Fine, but keep it down.” 

 

Lance let out a huge sigh of relief, and immediately broke into a hissed argument with Keith and Pidge about who's fault it was that they were in trouble, and how Keith had definitely over reacted, and Pidge should have programmed it to sit on his head - 

 

“Hey!” Shiro raised his voice, and Lance, Pidge and Keith all blinked at him. “I didn’t say you could go right back to fighting. Talk about something else, or keep quiet.” 

 

Lance kept an innocent face until Shiro looked away (to rub his eyebrows, poor guy) and then he shot a glare at the equally glaring Keith. Shiro must have had eyes on the back of his head because he only snapped his fingers without looking up. 

 

“Lance, say five nice things about Keith.” 

 

“But-” 

 

“Now. If you’re going to act like a kindergartner, I’ll treat you like one.” 

 

Lance pouted, and huffed, folding his arms. “Ugh, okay fine. Uh… you’re a good pilot,” Lance said, counting off on his fingers. “You are scary good with your sword. You… ughh, rock a mullet. You aren’t that much of a jerk usually. Annnddddd……”

 

“Reach a little harder, man,” Hunk encouraged, and Lance glowered. 

 

“And! You’re a good team member! Hah!” Lance finished, flinging himself backward in his chair in celebration. Keith just rolled his eyes. Shiro hadn’t opened his eyes. 

 

“Keith, your turn.” 

 

“What? But he was the one who started it!” 

 

“Keith,” Shiro warned, and Keith humphed, pouting as much as Lance. He was quiet for a long moment, and Lance leaned forward, grin wide. 

 

“C’mon Keith, watcha got for me?” 

 

“Shut up, I’m thinking.” 

 

“Hey, you’re supposed to say _nice_ things~!” Lance leered. Keith sent him a nasty glare, and never broke it while he spoke. 

 

“You’re also a good pilot. You are a good friend. You connect really well with Blue. You hold the team together. ...You have really blue eyes.” 

 

Lance had a wide mouthed grin by the end if it, even though Keith’s face didn’t falter from his death glare, except to get redder and redder.

 

“Ahaha! What was that last one?” 

 

“Shut up.” 

 

Pidge and Hunk, unable to keep quiet, lost it at that point. Even Shiro cracked a little smile, and he’d been in a mood since that morning. Keith hid his face in his hands. 

 

“Shiro, can we get up now?” Keith begged, muffled through his palms. Shiro broke into true chuckles. 

 

“Yeah, get out of here,” he waved his arm, and the four younger paladins bolted, amid cheers for their freedom. Hunk hung back long enough to hear Allura tease Shiro. 

 

“You sound just like my father,” she chuckled. “Anyone would think that those were your children.” 

 

Shiro groaned. “Please don’t say that.”


	2. Locked

“Hurry up,” Keith hissed behind Lance’s ear. Lance growled softly, and elbowed backwards - all the protest he could spare while his concentration was on the delicate procedure in front of him. Thank god for his oldest brother teaching him lock picking, because they couldn’t afford to blast their way through right now, like Keith so clearly wanted to. 

 

“Just… gimme… one… more… tick- ah!” Lance finally broke through the lock, and the steel plated clicked open. As Pidge had promised, no alarms went off either. Which was good, because then Iverson and the entire Garrison would come down on their heads. 

 

Lance glanced at Keith and then they started jogging into the hall, deeper and deeper into the building. 

 

They passed room after room, searching for what they’d been instructed - the main communications room. They had the recording from Allura, the one that would warn humanity about the impending Galra attack, and pleading that Voltron be allowed to protect their planet. It was the same one that they often played to about-to-be-attacked planets, only so much more desperate. The stakes were so high. 

 

“Hey, do you think the Garrison higher ups even know about the aliens and all that? Or do they just think we deserted, and are crazy?” Keith let him talk as they ran, used to it by now. “They were pretty gung ho about hiding Shiro, and not listening, way back when, so it seems like they wanted to cover up something they already… knew about.” 

 

They turned a corner to see something that filled Lance with a horror deeper than he’d ever known. It was Garrison Commander Iverson, standing amicably, side by side, with a Galra.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short snippet that only hints at a plot. Whoops *edges off stage*


	3. Varnish

Some people thought that Keith’s shell was stone, or metal. Something opaque and impossible to discern the truth from beneath. Shiro knew that it was more like glass. Something hard, but clear. Brittle, like a newly varnished floor with damage underneath. But you could also see the whorls and veins of the wood, telling a tale of how it lived for all to see. 

 

Keith wasn’t hard to read, and his true emotions weren’t often buried too deep. He was too genuine, too blatantly truthful. That was why Shiro’s heart was breaking now, as he read the fear, pain, and resignation in Keith’s eyes. 

 

“Shiro,” he said, gripping his flesh forearm with surprising strength. Then Shiro kicked himself, because of course Keith was strong, he always had been. “Shiro, you’ve got to go…” 

 

“No,” Shiro said, firmly pressing his hands against Keith's side. “You’re coming too. I will not leave you behind, do you got that?” 

 

Keith’s eyes were pleading; wide and wet. 

 

“Please, Shiro-” 

 

“Shut up,” Shiro couldn’t help but say, pressing harder, before he released the wound (so much blood) and scooped Keith up into his arms. He was heavy with muscle, and the suit, and nearly dead weight, but Shiro still picked him up with ease. 

 

“Hold on, kid. Hold on.”


End file.
